Return
by wish-2-remain-anonymous
Summary: An old friend returns to Tree Hill, and her return begins a chain reaction of romance, deception, memories, and just plain drama.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is my first FanFic that I ever posted on fanfiction.net. R&R, but be nice, please. IMPORTANT: It's told in the points of view of all the characters. If there's a change in the middle of a chapter, asterisks () show a change in the points of view. Otherwise, each chapter's told in a different perspective.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of this smack, except for the character Samantha.  
  
CHAPTER 1  
  
"Haley!"  
  
My girlfriend was standing a few yards away from me, right in front of the exit from the airplane. Her dark eyes turned to stare at me when she heard her name, and her long dark hair gently whipped her face. She hurried to me.  
  
"What's wrong, Nate?"  
  
"What do you mean what's wrong?" I impatiently gestured to the clock on the terminal wall. "Your friend's flight was supposed to be here half an hour ago! I have a game at 7, and it's already..." I turned to check the time again. "A few minutes to six!!!"  
  
She clasped her hands together. "I know, Nate! And I'm sorry! But, please, please, please just be patient. Her flight might be delayed."  
  
"Or, she might not be coming at all."  
  
Just then, we heard a voice coming a few yards away from where we were standing.  
  
"Oh, my God. Haley James? Is that you?"  
  
Haley sharply turned. "Samantha Edison!!!" They hugged. "Oh, God! I haven't seen you in so long!"  
  
I was surprised to see how her friend (who she affectionately called "Sammie") really looked like. The way she described her, she seemed like an overweight geeky girl who loved to read and write poetry about butterflies and bees. But this "Sammie" was actually a... Well, there's no other way to put this. But she was a BABE. She had medium skin with long, dark wavy hair and big, dark eyes that seemed almost black. Her jeans and polo shirt clung to her body perfectly, accentuating her curves, and-  
  
Wait! Why the hell am I talking this way? Especially when my girlfriend's right here! I shook my head slightly to remove these thoughts.  
  
"What's wrong?" Haley walked up to me without me even noticing. She looked up at me with a worried expression on her face, while her friend just stared.  
  
I looked from one to the other. "Nothing."  
  
"Good." A smile spread across Haley's face. She gestured to her friend. "Nate, this is Samantha Edison. Sammie, this is Nathan Scott."  
  
I stuck out my hand for her to shake. "Pleasure to meet you." Her hand was pretty cold.  
  
"Likewise." She quickly let go. "Scott... Are you related to Lucas Scott?"  
  
I was pretty surprised by the question. How did she know Luke? But then, I remembered that Lucas was Haley's best friend in the entire world, and Haley did call Samantha one of her "best friends" in the entire world when she was younger.  
  
"Yeah," I replied. "He's my brother."  
  
"Brother? I didn't know he had a brother." She looked me up and down. "And you don't look like you'd be his brother."  
  
"Oh, well. Make that half brother."  
  
"Oh!" She smiled. Her smile was very wide, but it was nice, and her teeth were perfect. Too perfect.  
  
We walked out of the terminal to the parking garage. We came to our car, and I helped Samantha put her luggage into the trunk. I got into the driver's seat, while she buckled up in the back seat.  
  
"Nice car," she said.  
  
"Thanks, Samantha."  
  
She laughed. "Don't call me Samantha, please. It sounds so damn formal. You can call me Sam, if anything."  
  
I smiled. "All right."  
  
The first few minutes of the drive, all three of us sat quietly. I turned on the radio, turning the dial, trying to find a good radio station.  
  
"Wait!" Sam screamed.  
  
The sudden outburst made me step on the brakes. I heard horns beeping all around me.  
  
Haley spun around in her seat, her eyes wide with fright. "Sammie, what's wrong?" She sounded worried.  
  
She leaned forward in her seat. "Put it back on the previous station."  
  
I closed my eyes. She nearly killed us for this?!?!?! I thought to myself. I could feel Haley's gaze on me, but I didn't open my eyes to look at her. Hales leaned forward to turn the dial back to the previous station. The sounds of Hoobastank filled the car. I finally opened my eyes and continued driving.  
  
Haley turned around again to face her friend. "I didn't know you liked rock."  
  
Sam was bobbing her head in the backseat. "Are you kidding?!?!?!?! There's no type of music better."  
  
"But, when you left, you only liked-"  
  
"Classical?" Sam finished the sentence for Hales. I heard her laugh. "Yeah, but the city can change you."  
  
"So how's life in San Francisco?" Haley asked.  
  
"Oh, not bad. SF's great." Sam paused a while. I looked in the rear view mirror, and her eyes had a far-off look. "It's definitely not like Tree Hill, though."  
  
I couldn't resist not staying in the conversation. "Why'd you leave Tree Hill in the first place?"  
  
"It's a long story," Sam said, her eyes down.  
  
Haley lightly touched my arm. I turned to look at her every now and then. She leaned forward to whisper in my ear, "Don't ask her to explain just yet, okay?"  
  
I didn't know how to respond to that. I just nodded.  
  
A/N: Yup, that's the end of this chapter. Review, please. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Just to remind you all, this story's told in different points of view. Asterisks in the middle of a chapter show the change, and different chapters are told in different perspectives. R&R, por favor.  
  
Disclaimer: Yea, yea...yanno I don't own this stuff.  
  
CHAPTER 2  
  
When we reached the high school, Nate ran off to the locker rooms while I went with Sammie to get a good seat. She followed me with a huge smile on her face.  
  
"Wow. This school's really nice."  
  
I turned to her and smiled. "You're always so cheery."  
  
"It just seems like I always am." Her eyes had a far-off look.  
  
I knew what she was talking about. Even if it was about four or five years since the incident happened, I could remember it clearly. But even if she was going through such a hard time, she always seemed to keep her head up. She was so optimistic; I wondered how she did it, and I wanted to beg her to give me some tips.  
  
"Hey, Hales," a voice broke through my thoughts.  
  
"Hey, Peyton."  
  
A cheerleader with bushy golden hair walked up to us. She was looking straight at me, but I could see that her eyes kept darting to Sammie on my right side. A few minutes later, another girl joined her, but this one had straight dark hair.  
  
"Tutor girl, who's your friend?"  
  
"This is Samantha Edison, Brooke. Sammie, this is Brooke Davis." I gestured to the girl with the dark hair. "And this is Peyton Sawyer."  
  
Peyton gladly shook Sammie's hand and gave her a warm smile, but Brooke just eyed her with a look of distrust and, dare I say it, something that looked like evil.  
  
"So, how do you know Haley?" Brooke asked her.  
  
I turned to look at Sammie.  
  
"Oh, we go way back. All the way to kindergarten, actually."  
  
"Really?" Peyton asked, her eyes turning to me. "You never told us about her."  
  
I blushed. "Well, I didn't think you guys would be interested to know about my...past, I guess you'd say."  
  
"Yea," Sammie joked. "Our story's boring."  
  
Brooke then asked, "If you knew Hales, you must've known Lucas."  
  
Uh-oh. I hoped Brooke wasn't about to start something with Sam. But I was quickly saved from possible confrontation when the buzzer went off to signal the start of the game. Brooke and Peyton turned around at the sound, and then looked back at us.  
  
"Sorry, Hales," Peyton said, "but we gotta run." She shook the pom- poms in her hand. "I hope we can catch up later on," she added to Sammie.  
  
Sam waved to them. "You're friends are nice."  
  
"Yea," I added. "They're great."  
  
She turned to me, with a twinkle in her eye. "I think Brooke doesn't like me."  
  
"Don't mind, Brooke. She doesn't trust very many people."  
  
She laughed at the statement. "Why?! Is she like, completely paranoid?"  
  
"No. She's just...She just likes...She enjoys...I don't know. That's just how Brooke is."  
  
Sammie rolled her eyes. "Well, I don't even know." She paused to watch the tip-off. "Why'd she ask me if I knew Lucas?"  
  
"Well, so did Nate."  
  
"No. It's just when she asked me, she was like...I dunno, sounding all defensive and stuff like that."  
  
"Oh." I stopped. "I don't know if I should explain it all to you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's a long story, Sammie. And very, very confusing."  
  
She turned her body to completely face me and grabbed me by the shoulders. "C'mon! Tell me! Yanno I need to know everything! I haven't changed much in four years."  
  
I laughed. "No, you definitely haven't." I pulled her hands off my shoulders and turned to face her, too. "Okay, it all starts with Lucas, Nathan, and Peyton. You know who I'm talking about."  
  
She nodded; her expression was completely rapt. She really wanted to hear this.  
  
"Lucas and Nathan didn't get along all that much. And Peyton was going out with Nathan. But Lucas liked Peyton, too."  
  
I paused a little to let her absorb everything in. She just stared at me. "What?!?! I have no idea what you said. All I heard was Nathan, Peyton, Lucas, Peyton, Nathan, Nathan, Lucas, Peyton." She laughed. "It was all one big blur."  
  
I shook my head. "Exactly! It's all too confusing." I began to turn around, but she grabbed me by my shoulders again.  
  
"No! I was just kidding! I know what you said!" She let go of my shoulders. "Lucas and Nathan didn't get along; Nathan was with Peyton; Lucas was jocking on Peyton." She turned to me, her eyes wide with curiosity. "Continue."  
  
I started to laugh again. "Okay, so anyways, Nathan and Peyton broke up; Lucas ended up with Brooke. But Lucas cheated on Brooke with Peyton. And Brooke and Peyton happen to be best friends." I stopped. "I'm going to fast, huh?"  
  
"No! I got it. Nathan and Peyton over; Lucas with Brooke; Lucas cheated on Brooke with her best friend and Nathan's ex, Peyton." She stopped. "Damn! Your lives are like one big soap opera! Okay, continue."  
  
"All right, Peyton ended up not wanting to be with Lucas, but Brooke was completely mad that Lucas cheated on her in the first place, especially with her best friend. So Lucas ended up being single. And I ended up with Nate. But Brooke and Peyton are cool now."  
  
She just continued to stare at me, as if asking for more.  
  
"Um...that's it."  
  
"Wow. That's so confusing. It's like a big spider web."  
  
"Yea, and don't even get me started on the parents."  
  
"Why? Is it even juicier?" Her eyes were twinkling again, and I rolled my eyes and continued watching the game. She must've gotten the hint, 'cause she turned around to watch, too.  
  
For the remaining time in the first quarter and the first half of the second, we sat not talking to each other at all. Both of us were so intent on watching the game that I almost forgot that my best friend in elementary school, who I haven't seen in years, was sitting right next to me.  
  
"Wow! Who was that?" Sammie asked, after about a half an hour of not talking to each other, and after Lucas just made a great lay-up.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The guy who made the lay-up!" We sat back down on the bleachers, since we stood to cheer for Luke.  
  
"That was Lucas!"  
  
"Lucas?"  
  
"Yes, Lucas!"  
  
"Oh, God! It doesn't even look like him anymore." Her eyes began to follow him up and down the court. She leaned toward me to whisper in my ear, "No wonder Brooke and Peyton were fighting over him."  
  
A/N: That was the second chapter. I hope you liked it. Review, please! I'd really appreciate it. 


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